Safety automatic regulator for timepieces



Jan. 16, 1962 J. RABINOW 3, 7

SAFETY AUTOMATIC REGULATOR FOR TIMEPIECES Original Filed Jan. 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR J4 cos RAB/Now ATTORNEY Jan. 16, 1962 J. RABINOW 3, 87

SAFETY AUTOMATIC REGULATOR FOR TIMEPIECES Original Filed Jan. 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR Jacoa RAB/Now ATTORNEY V 3,016,687 'SAFETY 'AUTOMATIQ REGULATOR FOR TIIVIEPECES Jacob Rabinow, 1603 Drexel St., Takoma Park, Md., as-

signor of one-half to Max L. Libman, Vienna, Va. Continuation of abandoned application 1 Serial No.

785,214, June 6, 1959. This application Mar. 4, 1960, SenNo. 13,679 I v p I 5 Claims. (Cl. 58-409) 7 This application ,is a continuation of. my copending patent application, Serial No. 785,214, filed January 6, 195.9,, for safety automatic regulator for timepieces, now abandoned.

This invention relates to they automatic regulation of timepieces wherein the setting of the hands moves the rate regulator in the appropriate direction to produce a correctionin the running rate.

Automatic rate regulators are known which provide. a

change in the running rate of a timepiece by the ordinary operation of setting the hands to the correct time. In such regulators .some expedient must be providedto pre vent an excessive change in the setting of the rate regu- FIG; 3 is a View similarto VFIG}. 1, but showing the latch released, sometime after regulation, and ready for a subsequent regulation; is I I t FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but showing the stem retracted for a hand setting and regulating operation;

I and Patent No. 2,858,029.

lator by the act of correcting the time indication. In my U.S. Patent .No. 2,858,029, issued October 28,- 1958, there is .shown, among other things, a mechanism by means ofwhich a maximum correction of the rate can be set by a single motion of the hands so that if one moves the hands, saymore than five minutes, the change in rate reaches a maximum and is restrained from further mo-- tion by a-suitablestop. This stop is released by the movement of the watch mechanism after some predetermined time so that another change in the rate can be made later.

Other variations of a maximum stop and a subsequent release by the clockwork have also been developed by other inventors. While solving the problem of excessive correction fairlywell, they suffer from the ditficulty that if one were to move the hands less than the amount required for maximum correction and repeat this motion manytimes, a very-large change in rate can be produced. This might appear, for-example, in the case of a'timepiece which makes a maximum correction for a five minutes setting and then latches the rate regulator at this point. If one were to move this timepiece three minutes at a time, the latch would not operate and one could make a very large error in'rate, which might be done by a person ignorant of the mechanism, or by a child playing with the knob. Also, some of the mechanisms used for latching 'have'to be made fairly elaborate and since in most cases the rate regulator is driven by friction from the hand setting-mechanism, rather light and sometimes flimsystructures are employed.

It is a primary 'object'of'the invention to provide means in'an automatically regulated timepiece of the type discussed above, forpreventing improper 'operation'of the rate regulating means; More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide, in a timepiece regulator, means whereby any regulation can be made 'only'once, regardless 'of the amount of 'regulaion, and thereafter no further regulation can be accomplished until continuous operation of the timepiece mechanism releases the regulating mechanism for further operation.

A further object is to provide a simple, rugged, andin expensive mechanism for this purpose.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description'of apreferred embodiment as shown in the accom'panyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional plan view, taken on line 11 of FIG. 2, showing the mechanism of the invention in the locked position, immediately after automatic regulation has been accomplished;

FIG; 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2r2 'of FIG. 1;

. anism above described, until the arcuate sectorv 22 isv By way of example only, the invention is shown applied to the rate regulator described in my aforesaid sector 22, to engage disc 43, which is attached to the ,minuteshaft 10. Gear 28 whichis attached to disc.26

for rotation therewith, is at all times engaged with the teeth of gear sector 14, fixed to rateregulatorshaft 1 2,v

which thereby changes therate regulation as, described in my aforesaid Patent No. 2,858,029. As stem 4 is ro-.

vtated in the setting position, the hands are set forward or backward, depending upon the direction .of rotation, throughya conventional gear train ,(not shown) which terminates in gear fixed to shaft 10 (FIG. 2).. This causes a change in the rate regulation through the mech-v moved sufiiciently so, that. it disengages the two. discs 43 and 26., Althoughl have briefly described the rateregulator shown in my aforesaid patent, it will be understood that the invention is, equally applicable to any rate regu-,

-lator of the type wherein the hand setting motion of the timepiece is transferred to the rate .regulating mechanism through a friction drive, or an equivalent gear drive.

FIG. 1 represents the condition of the mechanism immediately after. a rate regulation has been. made and the a I stem 4 hasbeen pushed back intoits normal or running position. In thiscondition, a swinging lever '3, actuated bythe setting stem, presses on the locking bar S-and forces this locking bar to engage the teeth of gear'sector 14, which as explained above, is fixed-to the rate regulator stem 12, thus blocking the rate regulator against any further. motion or adjustment. "The locking bar 5 is guided I '9 is anchored at one end 11 to the body of the timepiece.

at various times by the four pins 7 and-8; it is urged by a spring 9 to the left out of engagement with the regulator gear segment 14, spring 9 being so -positioned as to also press the bar 5 downwardly toward stem 4. Spring In the position shown, locking bar 5 is also held by latch 15, so that even if the stem4 is again retracted, releasing the swinging lever 3 from engagement with the end of the lockingbar- 5, the locking bar cannot follow, despite the .pressure of spring '9, because it is-reta-ined by latch 15.

Thus the timepiece can again be set, but as long as the locking bar 5 is in the position shown in FIG. 1, the rate regulator cannot move, andthere will merely'be'friction slippage between disc 43 and disc 26.

A cam actuating cam 44 is frictionally mounted on shaft 10 for rotation therewith, the frictional'engagement being sufficiently light so that the cam 44 can readily slip on the shaft, although the frictional engagement is sufiicientso that when cam44 engages thehammer lever 18,

- it can force it back against the action of spring 20. I As the-shaft lticontinues to rotate in the normal-operation of thetimepiece, the cam 44 finally passes the end of the hammer lever 18,suddenly releasing it for rotation under the action of spring 20 with sufiicient force to strike against locking bar 5 and'release'it from latch 15, so

that under the action of spring 9 the locking'bar now assumes the'position' shown in FIG. 3. In this position,

the locking 'bar 5 overlies the end of swinging lever 3;

and is'urged lightly against the end'of swing lever 3 by P d e -1611.96

When the setting stem 4 is re-.

' tracted for the purpose of setting thehands, as shownin FIG. 4, it carries with it member 30, which causes lever 18 to move to the left, causing disc26, through arcuate,

a component of force exerted by spring 9. The timepiece is now ready for another setting and automatic regulating operation. When stem 4 is again pulled out into the hand setting position, the lockingbar 5 is pressed down by spring 9 into the position shown in FIG. 4, where the end of the locking bar underlies the end of swinging lever 3 sothat return motion of swinging lever 3, intozthe posh tion shown in FIG. 1 carries the locking bar 5 with it into locking engagement as shown in FIG. 1. Another rate regulation cannot be made until the shaft 10 has completed substantially a full rotation to cause element 44 to actuate hammer lever 18 and release locking bar 5 as previously described. It will be noted that this action is independent of the amount of regulation performed and that two successive acts of regulation cannot be performed until the hammer lever 18 has been twice actuated by cam 44. It is true that the time period between possible successive operations is somewhat random, depending upon the position of cam 44 at the time the stem is moved back into the hand setting position, but the stem moves very slowly, and the chance of its being at any time precisely in the condition where it will immediately release the hammer lever 18 is so small as to be negligible in practice.

However, the risk can be still further reduced by putting a cam on the hour shaft instead of the minute shaft, whereby full rotation of the cam would then require twelve hours instead of one hour. If desired, the interval could be made even longer by the use of suitable gearing.

The'hammer mechanism is shown only to illustrate one form of mechanism which is instantaneous in its action. It will be apparent that the cam.44 could act directly on looking bar 5 to release it, but this arrangement, while simple,has the possible disadvantage that it would render the locking bar 5 inoperative during thetirne the cam dwells against the bar, sothat if a correction is made at this time the "locking feature would be ineffective. However, this would not occur very often, and in any case will not interfere with the normal regulation action.

FIG, 5 illustrates another form of hammer mechanism for releasing the locking bar. Inthis, embodiment, the

shaft 10 has fixed to it a light spring 47 carrying a small hammer 41. In the course of its rotation, the hammer 4.1-wi1lfinally reach the dotted line position 45, where it bears against a fixed stop 42 attached to the body of the timepiece. Thereafter, as the shaft continues to rotate in a clockwise direction, the spring 40 is flexed by an increasing amount until the hammer41 finallyis carried past-the point where pin 42-can any longer restrain it. Under the action of the flexed spring 40, the hammer now flie'sagainstthe projection 46 on locking bar 5, to release thelocking bar from latch as previously described.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, if it is desired to set the hands backwards, i.e. counter clockwise, the cam 44 can come to rest against theend ofhammer lever 18; for this reason the light friction fit previously mentioned is provided, so that-the element-44 merely slips on shaft 10,"which has. the advantage that the full rotation of the; shaft 10 will be required before a subsequent rate regulation" can be made. In the modification of FIG. 5, if the shaft is rotated backwards, even with the locking bar in the latched position shown in FIG. 1, the spring 47 is too light to shove the locking bar out of engagement with latch 15, and will merely flex, so that no harm is done.

It will be apparent that the embodiments shown are only exemplary and that various modifications can be made in construction and arrangement within the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

'I claim: V

1. In a timepiece having normal running means and time-indicating means, rate regulating means, manual control means having a running position and a time-setting position, means to couple the time-indicating means to the. rate regulating means when the manual control means are in the setting position, locking means actuated by operation of the manual control means from the setting position to the running position to lock the rate regulating means into a fixed position after the setting of the time indicating means, and means actuated by said normal running means to release said locking means for subsequent movement of the rate regulating means.

2. In a timepiece having drive means and display means, a stem movable from a normal running position to a setting position, rate regulator means for adjusting the running rate of the timepiece, means operably interconnecting said rate regulator and said display means to change the running rate of the timepiece in accordance with a change in setting of the display means, locking means operable to lock said rate regulator means against operation, lock actuating means operable on return motion of said stem. from said setting position to said run.- ning position to actuate said locking means to lock said rate regulator means against operation, and lock release means operable by said drive means to release said lock means to permit subsequent operation of said rate regulator means.

3. In a timepiece having normal running means and time-indicating means, adjustably movable rate-regulating means, manual setting means having a normal running position and a time-setting position in which the time-indicating means is set by operation of the manual setting means; friction drive means normally operative by setting operation of the manual setting means to move said rate-regulating means to change the adjustment of the rate-regulating means in a direction dependent on the direction of setting of the time-indicating means; locking means directly engageable with a movable portion of the rate regulating means to lock same in a fixedposition against motion in-either direction independently of motion of said manualsetting means, said friction means being effective to permit setting of the time-indicatingmeans by, slipping of said drive means whensaid'locking means are engaged; means independent of said friction drive means to move said locking means into locking position subsequently to any adjustment whatever of said rateregulating means, and means subsequently actuated by rate-regulating, means ina directiondependent on the direction of setting of the time-indicating means; locking means directly engageable with a movable portion of the rate regulating means to lock same in a fixedposition against motion in either direction while permittingsetting movement of said time-indicating meansby, slipping ofv thefriction drive means, locking operating means effective after completion of a change of adjustment of the rate-regulating means to-operate said locking means .to lock said rate-regulating means against further subsequent movement, andmeans subsequently actuated by said normal running means to release said locking means .to permit a further adjustment of the rate-regulating means.

5. In a timepiece having normal'running means and time-indicating means, adjustably movable rate-regulating means, manual setting means having a normal running position and a time-setting position in which the timeindicating means is set by operation of the manual setting means; friction drive means normally operative by setting operation of the manual setting means to move said rateregulating means to change the adjustment of the rate regulating means in a direction dependent on the direction of setting of the time-indicating means, locking means directly engageable with a movable portion of the rate 6 regulating means to lock same in a fixed position against means subsequently actuated by said normal running motion in either direction independently of motion of means to release said locking means to permit a further said manual setting means, said friction means being such adjustment of said rate-regulating means, efiective to permit setting of the time-indicating means by slipping of said drive means when said locking means 5 References Cited m6 file of Patent are engaged; means to move said locking means into UNITED STATES PATENTS locking engagement with said movable portion after each change of adjustment of the rate-regulating means, and 2941349 LuX June 1960 

